The new VW show season is upon us and locally (ish) that starts with Dub Aid near Malmesbury in Wiltshire.

We arrived on site at around 7.30pm, just a few minutes after another club member (andhoops) and proceeded in convoy around the edge of the camping field – apparently too boggy to cross directly to our pitch – where we spotted the Brazilian flag and parked.With most of the country stuck in what appeared to be a never ending winter we left Reading heading West at around with some trepidation and as many warm (and waterproof) clothes as we could find. There would be no hookup at the event site so keeping warm and dry would be critical.

After a brief catchup with fellow Brazilian VW Bay members and a cuppa, we set off on foot toexplore with Wellington boots and thermal socks being put to good use. We

found the entertainment marquee and bar and enjoyed a few pints of mulled cider while listening to some local bands.

It had been raining consistently for most of the day, and although it was much lighter during the early evening, it became much heavier again as we settled in for the night, leaving the event organisers with some tough decisions for the morning.

Saturday morning brought us some blue skies and sun and the ground appeared to be drying out however as so much rain had fallen on Friday and during the night it would need to stay that way for the whole day to make any significant difference. The event organisers were therefore forced into the decision to close the event to day visitors and any new arrivals and hope that things might improve enough for Sunday visitors.

We sorted breakfast and spent the rest of the morning completing several laps of the show arena to look at the few trade stands that had made it in before the gates had closed and generally had a good look around, then with wise words and encouragement we helped our fellow crew members erect their sun canopy – just in time to shelter from more rain showers!

After lunch we attended the charity auction which with better weather would have been the highlight of the day, but with so few people it did well to raise approx £1,100 for Great Ormond Street Hospital – we didn’t bid on anything although we tempted by a large cake!

The skies were once again full of grey clouds so it was looking less and less likely the show would be open on the Sunday, so with a few hours to kill before the Saturday night entertainment would start and having seen everything there was to see, we made the decision to head home while it was still light and while there were still a few blades of grass for grip to get out of the field.

We packed and made our way to the edge of the field, then with a helping hand from the Brazi Bay crew, a toot and a wave and we were on our way. The journey home was no walk in the park either, rain, sleet, snow, driving rain and high winds, we saw just about everything except sun on the way back to Reading.

The event organisers had done a fab job planning and getting everything ready, only for all of their hard work to be undone by the great British weather.

With the Easter holidays fast approaching we wanted to head west into the heart of vdub camping territory, Devon and Cornwall.

Heading roughly south-west we set out along the A4 then A340 to pick up the A303 past Stone Henge.

We were stopping over with friends near Crediton, Devon so rather than going all the way to Exeter on the A303/A30 we took the A372 and A361 west to Taunton then the A38 and A361 again to Tiverton, all fantastic scenic ‘driving’ roads with plenty of places for a pitstop and leg stretch.

We stopped for a short break just west of Othery on the A361 at Burrow Mump, a remarkable man made 14th century hill with the remains of a church on top and arrived at our destination at 4pm.

The next morning we set off around 10am again heading west toward Okehampton to pick up the A30 which would take us to within 10miles of our next stop, Porth where we were meeting up with family for a 60th birthday party at the Glendorgal Hotel, arriving shorty after midday.

The following day we checked into Porth Beach Tourist Park, a short walk from the hotel (shorter at low tide) and across the road from the beach.

Porth Beach is an open plan site, well laid out with excellent facilities and very reasonably priced. We were all setup within a few hours and with bucket and spade at the ready, all set for a day on the beach.

Porth Beach has a large pub, small cafe and an even smaller take away via a ‘hole in the wall’ directly onto the beach, all very convenient and reasonably priced which is just as well since there is no shop on the campsite.

The morning of our second day was once again spent lazing on the beach however in the afternoon we took a short walk out to Trevelgue Headland across a small footbridge to what is now known as Porth Island.

Trevelgue Headland/Porth Island has a rich history stretching back to 2,000BC with bronze age barrows, an iron age settlement and Roman ramparts and was one of the most heavily fortified headlands in Cornwall.

From Trevelgue Headland there are fantastic views of Newquay bay to the left, Watergate bay to the right and Porth beach below which becomes even more impressive with crashing waves on an incoming tide.

The following morning we were packed up and hitting the road again by 10am, taking a slow meander north east along the Cornish coast via Padstow and Polzeath before heading inland to Launceston, the A30, Exeter then the A303 and eventually home to Reading.

In all another fantastic trip, and a great campsite located so close to the beach. We will definitely visit again, but will make sure we have extra supplies packed to make up for the lack of site shop.